Live Earth Antarctica - Debut from Nunatak

With Live Earth set to storm the musical world this weekend, Nicola- our Polar voyage manager - has taken a sneaky peak at what they have planned for Antarctica. 

Whilst the world's most famous entertainers including Shakira, Duran Duran, The Police will be playing to huge crowds on all seven continents....the band of the moment on the world's most remote, windiest and coldest stage will be none other than the British Antarctic Survey's own Nunatak (aka a group of musical scientists at Rothera Research Station).  You can see them rehearsing for their gig by clicking here on YouTube. They have a lively crowd of 17 to play too in their international debut!

In probably the most unique arena of any of the planned shows, the concert will kick off in temperatures of around 10 degrees C below zero on a stage at Rothera Station's airstrip.  Check out more info on our Antarctica blog - www.antarcticblog.com

Iceland in the City - Bands invited to perfrom in Manchester this weekend

Great news just in is that five Icelandic musicians and bands have been invited to perform at the four-day In The City festival in Manchester.

The musicians and bands will perform on International Showcase Night, which has been dedicated to Icelandic music for the first time in the festival’s history, as reported by ruv.is.

The Icelandic night, dubbed Iceland in the City, will take place on the last night of the festival (Tuesday 31st Oct) at The Life Café/ Late Room in Manchester. Admission is free and the show starts at 19:00.

Although the artisits appearing may not be as well known as a certain Ms Bjork, with Icelandair starting their direct flights from Manchester earlier this year, this is the perfect opportunity to let your readers know that the Land of Fire & Ice is a lot 'closer' than they may think if they are in the Manchester area - or even Glasgow, Heathrow or Stanstead areas.

Discover the World offer a whole host of great holidays to Iceland, whether for music minds to get their musical fill in the numerous cafe's and bars in reykljavik, or for families looking for a really unique holiday together.

Whatever holiday your readers might prefer, our 3-night winter Reykjavik City Break starts from £279 including flights & accomodation and remains the perfect way to experience the famous city and it's geothermal surroundings.

Geysers, Waterfalls, Glaciers, not to mention superjeeps and snowmobiling make this a real adventure-packed destination whilst the more sedate amongst us can relax in the warm cobalt blue, healing waters of the blue lagoon.

If you need stunning images or more information about any of our Iceland holidays then please call me on 01737 214 294 or visit www.discover-the-world.co.uk/iceland

For more information on the event itself - please visit www.inthecity.co.uk/schedule_event_night.php?id=52

Many thanks - alexis

NZ's World of Wearable Arts - an international affair

TVNZ.co.uk reports that "The organisers of New Zealand's Wearable Arts Awards say a high level of interest from international designers is recognition of its growing prestige as a major fashion event. The first round of entries for this year's show has attracted 380 designers from countries such as India, Iceland, Germany, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates."

The festival has now moved to the NZ capital of Wellington - www.worldofwearableart.com - and will take place in September & October this year.

Discover the World have a selection of itineraries that encompass Wellington, alloing you to visit the WOW awards/festival. How about our 14-day Whale Rider Country, or if the fantastic wine of NZ is your main priority, our 8-day New Zealand Wine Trail is perfect for sampling the best wine on offer in the Land of the Long White Cloud.   

Maori New Year

The Maori New Year (1 to 30 June) is upon us and to celebrate, a whole host of events will take place throughout Northland, North Island - from art and indigenous food festivals to tree plantings and celestial navigation tours on land and sea. Maori New Year, known as Matariki is celebrated with education, remembrance and the planting of new trees and crops to signal new beginnings. The actual date of Maori New Year is 27th June. www.matariki.co.nz. (Tourism New Zealand).

www.discover-the-world.co.uk/newzealand have plenty of suitable itineraries if you're wanting to experience these events including their 5-day Bay of Islands Delight (from £275pp. 4 sharing, excl flights) or their North Island 9-day itinerary (from £356. 4 sharing, excl flights). If you need more info please just call - 01737 214 294. Thanks. Alexis

Free Icelandic music downloads

Iceland sends some increasingly popular musical vibes out to the rest of the world so have your fill at this site http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/freemusic.html thanks to the the Iceland Tourist Board, who are offering free downloads of the hottest new music and music videos from Iceland's stars.

An unsuprising end to Iceland's Eurovision chances!

Icelandic pop culture phenom Silvía Nótt – or Silvía Night, if you prefer – failed to make it through to the Eurovision Song Contest finals in Athens last night.

Silvía, a character played by actress Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir who represented Iceland in the contest, was nothing if not controversial, swearing onstage during rehearsals, shouting derogatory comments at Greek stagehands and generally exhibiting excessive diva-like behavior. While she had numerous supporters, many failed to catch the joke, and at the start of her number Silvía was greeted with booing and cheering in equal measure. Interviewed on the ten o’clock news by the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, Silvía delivered possibly her best performance yet, appearing with large sunglasses and mascara-streaked cheeks and bemoaning the fact that she was misunderstood in Europe. According to today’s Fréttabladid, Silvía responded when asked what her next steps were: “I’m going to go somewhere else, where there are people with a brain. I’m going to go to America where I have lots of famous friends and where I’m going to make a new Silvía Night record.”

An interesting charater indeed...luckily our native Icelandic sales team are somewhat different from the lovely Sylvia!!

Chill out with Sigur Ros

Can't find inspiration for that next feature.....not sure how to end the round-up you're working on...just need that extra bit of pazzaz from somewhere?

Why not sit back and let this relaxing tune - chosen as the BBC's intro music for their Living Planet series - inspire.

The music is by Icelandic band Sigur Ros, one of Iceland's highest profiled bands who are fast making in-roads into the UK and Europe (they had a few gigs in London and Machester at the end of March). Listen to it here: then click on Hopppolla.

Rite of spring - ramping-up Iceland's music offerings

Mr. Destiny - promoter of Iceland’s biggest showcase festival Iceland Airwaves - is setting up a new alternative festival in Reykjavik in collaboration with Icelandair. The Rite of Spring festival ('Vorblót' in Icelandic) will be focusing on cutting edge Folk, Jazz and World Music with acts from Brazil, UK, Serbia and Sweden booked to play on the first edition, along with local acts.

The festival will take place on the NASA venue in downtown Reykjavik, April 27-30